Nigeria's aviation minister has accused British airlines of treating Nigerian passengers with the "utmost contempt". Mr Fani-Kayode said he "would not sit by and allow our people to be treated like animals by anybody or for any reason". Link

My recent experiences with British airlines makes me agree with his statements. British airlines, in my experience, provides preferential treatment of passengers depending on the route it is operating and very likely on skin pigmentation. I know this is a big accusation. Let me explain.

When I chose British Airlines to fly to California, my longtime Travel Agent warned me that their behavior isn't upto par in Delhi-London route. I thought how bad can it get?
I almost always travel by Singapore Airlines and my experience with them is excellent. So I really didn't think much of her comments and opted for BA as Singapore Airlines wasn't available in my chosen timeframe.

BA flight was staffed mostly by male, a notable exception from other airlines. I thought it was a nice move towards equal opportunity for men. What I didn't expect was their general rudeness and their reluctance to comply with very simple requests like a glass of water. I think what spoiled my whole experience was the high amount of rudeness exhibited and their treatment of passengers. It appeared they were doing me a massive favor by allowing me on their airlines. In contrast the flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles was more pleasant, I wonder why. However even then they are much inferior to Singapore or even Thai Airlines.

BTW: On my return flight there were two staff who were really nice. However I attribute it more to their inherent quality as a person rather than to the training & guidance by the airlines. In short they were simple nice people.

I would definitely avoid British Airlines in future.